Friday, June 22, 2012

It’s a pleasure to introduce our new Swedish correspondent PMP to Gates of Vienna readers. In his first essay for us, PMP takes a look at the culture of self-hatred that has arisen in Sweden in recent decades, as reflected in the masochistic celebration of the country’s National Day.

Sweden’s National Day (of self-loathing)by PMP

By studying how Swedish politicians and media ideologically attack Sweden on its own National Day, this essay will reveal how Sweden has ceased to exist as a proud and tolerant nation. It will show how an anti-nationalist, Marxist line of thought is being propagated all the way from top officials, including the Royal Family, to the vast majority of Sweden’s various media outlets and research institutions.

In his essay, ‘The Case of Sweden’, Fjordman spoke of the country as a nasty and ‘frightening example of Political Correctness and self-loathing and can as such serve as a warning to others’. He also noted that Sweden is self-destructing at an unprecedented pace, for example referring to how Swedes will become an ethnic minority in their own lands within a few decades. Whilst this is very likely, the deconstruction is not only happening in terms of physical immigration and demographic changes. It is also about the deconstruction of traditional Swedish values and perceptions.

We are talking about a monster, with tentacles consisting of journalists, politicians, officials and researchers.An unfortunately superb time to witness this beast appear out of the dark is when it annually seeks to attack Sweden’s National Day, which takes place around the 6th of June. Every year during this day we are reminded of how far the establishment and media have pushed their ‘anti-indigenous’ agenda. This day is, apparently, a great time to criticise exactly what the day is intended to celebrate — being Swedish and being proud of Sweden.

In the case of Sweden, there are many past examples of a type of dislike and critique of being Swedish. The former leader of the Social Democrats, Mona Sahlin, expressed this at a conference, stating that she could ‘not think of anything resembling Swedish culture.’ And that this further ‘makes Swedes jealous of immigrants who have a culture, identity and a history which unite them.’ This, ‘whilst Swedes only have midsummer celebration and such ridiculous things.’

The current prime minister of Sweden, Fredrik Reinfeldt of the Moderate Party (‘Conservatives’ in Sweden), stated in 2006 that ‘the only feature of Swedish culture is barbarism, whilst everything else is thanks to immigration’.

The list of such statements is lengthy, especially when studying the writings of the country’s journalists. If one looks at how the establishment is tightly inter-linked politically with the media, the large amounts of this criticism does make sense. The celebrated anonymous author Julia Caesar has written about the bias of the Swedish media. She means that, whilst around 40% of the Swedish population sympathizes with the red-green (left) parties of the country, those holding such views make up at least 70% of Sweden’s journalists. According to a study by professor Kent Asp of Gothenburg University, 56% of Swedish journalists sympathise with the extreme left party ‘Vänsterpartiet’, and 41% with the Environmental Party. According to Asp, however, the State-funded television and radio, SVT and SR, win by far — over 83% of their journalists sympathise with these two leftist parties.

Let’s break this Nation down

Thus, to witness politicians, journalists and researchers arguing a line of cultural deconstruction on the country’s National Day should not come as a surprise. And so they did. On National Day the media did not make us wait for this criticism. On the early morning news, Channel 4 launched a ‘discussion’, on the topic ‘What is Swedishness? Is there such a thing?’. There were three participants in the discussion — None of whom viewed themselves as ‘ Swedish’. The TV show’s host asked whether if they felt the day meant anything special to them, resulting in their bursting into laughter. One of them, Qaizar Mahmood, said that he ‘wished it might mean something, but it really didn’t.’ Mahmood then went on to describe Swedishness as an onion, made out of different layers. One of these layers, was ‘the passivity (read cowardice) of the Swedes, which was shown during WWII,’ when Sweden did not take a stand against the Germans. He continued, asserting that ‘There are new layers constantly added to this onion, but if you peel these off, there is no core of Swedishness or of being a Swede.’ In other words, there is nothing to celebrate as there is nothing or no one who is Swedish in the end.This line of thinking finds expression in every source of journalism during this day. The journalist Jan Anders Olsson called for using the National Day as a ground for fighting ‘hate-crimes’. ‘The terms ‘Swede’ and ‘Swedishness’ in principle now refer to everyone,’ he argued. Therefore, ‘the National Day serves the function to remind us that all who hold a Swedish citizenship are de facto Swedes’. Christian Fernandez and Anders Hellström, researchers at Malmö University, called for making the National Day the ‘Day of Citizenship’. They meant we need to construct and celebrate an ‘Us’ which rejects the current, narrow understanding of ‘Swedishness’. In a chronicle in one of Sweden’s major evening papers, Aftonbladet, Elisabeth Höglund criticised the use of Sweden’s national anthem. Höglund meant the song expressed imperialism and brutal colonialism, as the song illustrates 17th century Sweden. She therefore meant that the anthem should be ‘re-written’, so that it would more correctly reflect ‘contemporary Sweden’.

Possibly the most influential Swedish news site and paper, Dagens Nyheter, has been a strong advocate of such arguments since the 1960s. A day before the National Day, the Liberal Swedish politician Jasenko Selimovic in this paper called for a ‘new Swedishness’. He compared Sweden to USA, meaning that they are very similar societies as they are made up of many different nationalities. However, he meant Sweden has failed to develop a similar sense of being Swedish, when compared to those who refer themselves to ‘American’.

If you were to ask the Swedish people whether they would like their country to be turned into a European version of the USA, I can assure you they would not approve. However, I have long since given up the thought that journalists and policy-makers such as Selimovic might actually care about what Swedes want.

This madness did not stop with journalists and academics; it also came from a more official level. I suppose The Royal Family of Sweden simply does not have much choice but to follow the political line of the establishment. For them to appear in the media celebrating being Swedish is no longer acceptable. At the National Day, parts of the Royal Family instead visited multicultural Malmö in the South of Sweden, where around 40% of the habitants are ‘non-Swedish’. In a highly covered presentation at the city’s Opera, Swedish Crown Prince Daniel welcomed the 300 so-called ‘New Swedes’ who were invited as guests. He introduced his speech stating that ‘being Swedish does not refer to skin or hair colour, nor accents’. To be Swedish, ‘is to share a place on the earth and to share a commonality and responsibility’. In the city which has recently seen an unprecedented murder-wave in Scandinavia, the Prince of course also emphasised how ‘Sweden has been enriched socially and culturally through immigration’.

Witch-hunt of nationalism — On the National Day

Other than the under-represented nationalist organisations, which are labelled as racists and fascists by media, there were virtually no journalists who opposed the propaganda during Sweden’s National Day. However, an exception which surprised many was the infamous historian Herman Lindqvist. Lindqvist is regarded by many as perhaps the most important scholar of Swedish history. As a protest to the above-illustrated attacks on the National Day, Lindqvist wrote an article titled ‘Stop puking on the National Day’. In the article, he criticised the fact that politicians and journalists cannot let Swedes even have one day a year to be proud of who they are, and where they come from. Lindqvist was then interviewed by a nationalist site about the article. On being asked whether there are ‘ethnic Swedes’, Lindqvist answered ‘of course there are’. After this, all hell break loose in the small country, and the red-green journalists could smell blood from miles away. The privately funded anti-racist institution Expo accused Lindqvist of collaborating with and supporting Nazis. The major newspaper Aftonbladet wrote an article where they now referred to Herman Lindqvist as a ‘poster-boy of organised fascism’.

In summary, the Swedish establishment, together with its branches in the media and academia, propagates a view of the country which ferociously attacks the notions of ethnic Swedes and of Swedishness. The day the population is supposed to celebrate this otherwise fantastic country, has been hijacked to serve as a political tool.

What we are talking about here is thus not a small amount of criticism from a few individuals. It is an organised body of critique, running top-down through the various levels of society. You are not to celebrate what used to be Sweden or what is Swedish. You are encouraged to question yourself, your country and your people. On the one hand, Swedes are to deny their own existence and question any notion of culture. On the other hand, they are to respect and admire people from other cultures who, in contrast to their Swedish ancestors, have enriched the country. This privilege obviously does not extend to the Swedes themselves. If you do not agree with this, you apparently deserve to be hunted down and harassed. To avoid being labelled a fascist and racist you had best make sure you loathe your own background and people as much as possible.

I have however not given up on the Swedish people itself. I know that a high percentage of ordinary Swedes celebrate the day and share the richness of what the country has brought them. The disturbing thing is to see how the politicians, who are supposed to represent these individuals, have their own agenda which has not been wished for by the population as a whole.

At the end of the day, I wonder: Did the Swedes really want to elect politicians who try to deconstruct their country?

Did they want an establishment which denies their existence, and encourages them to despise themselves on their only day of celebration?

23
comments:

Anonymous
said...

Nationalism is a four letter word among elites on both sides anymore. They don't want people, especially natives to feel proud about their country and deeds. In the U.S. this started under Clinton and his massive free trade push.

The Left though is quite overt about their hatred of nationalism. Why because it runs counter to their efforts of bringing in globalism; open borders; political correctness enforced via police state intimidation and lawsuits; and importing massive number of 3rd world stone age primitives(without Western created technology - that's where those people would be) who can't and won't be assimilated.

The elites on the right reject nationalism because it interferes with exporting industry and importing foreign workers(H1-B, L-1) and lowering wages and standard of living for everyone but their cohorts.

Put another way today's Rightists aren't anything that Eisenhower or even Nixon would recognize. The same way todays Democrats wouldn't be recognized by FDR era Democrats.

What's funny to me is that liberals in the US think that Sweden is a utopia. They never realize that Swedish liberals hate their own countries too. What a complete nightmare we are living through. My only hope is that when the smoke clears sometime in the future, the multiculturalists/marxists will have the same stigma placed on them as the nazis do today.

Swedish Crown Prince Daniel...[shrieked] that ‘being Swedish does not refer to skin or hair colour, nor accents’. To be Swedish, ‘is to share a place on the earth and to share a commonality and responsibility’.

Well then, my dear, dear prince, shall you be surrendering your crown? After all, who wants to be part of a nasty dynasty, especially in a country in which the very possibility of inherited identity you deny?

I've always thought it would be a lark to be a prince. Alas, I am tall, blond, and blue-eyed, which makes me part of a group that doesn't exist and whose nonexistence makes it ineligible to be part of Sweden in a meaningful way.

‘Sweden has been enriched socially and culturally through immigration’.

Do your female relatives die their hair black to escape enriching rapists? Or maybe they relish the thought of submitting to those brave, virile immigrant men who in large gangs target those nonexistent native Swedish women and enrich them with phalluses and blunt objects.

Excellent to see new journalists being added to the ranks of GoV. A great first essay - I look forward to more content from this person.

As for the article topic itself - nothing new here. We all know what these elites are up to....the real question is, what are we going to do about it? How can we disrupt their plans in a way that will prevent such ghastly outcomes as predicted?

To anon of 12:08 am , the smoke will not clear, this is the end of the line. This is how civilisations and ethnic groups disappear. Sweden seemsto be approaching the end time, itis quite unlikely that they will ever emerge from their trance intime to see the precipice into which they are soon to fall.

"What is not a myth, however, is that over the years Swedish society has been able to create effective institutions for resolving its conflicts of interest in a NON-VIOLENT way. There should be no reason why a similar development cannot occur in relation to conflicts of interest between the various majority and minority groups in this country. ... ... To succeed with the process of integration, however, will require the indigenous population to rethink many cherished ideas and assumptions about Sweden and what it means to be a Swede." On page 92, capslocs was italics in original.

So all you need do to claim or take over any territory is to occupy it? No genetic component required? No historical link through your ancestors? No shared values? No shared culture or customs, or law, food, literature, or language? No sense of belonging? No right to feel the land is your birthright by virtue of the above?

Why do these traitors rob their own people of their heritage their land and their culture and hand it over to colonialists?

Why do the Europeans who are displaced and dispossessed by their own leaders allow it to happen? Yes, the reverse racism and harassment is a familiar feature but the silent majority, at least in England resent it, and they bitterly complain to each other if they feel able to speak openly.

Although I do take the point about lack of choice, why do the Swedes elect such people in the first place? I feel some optimism in the fact that in England there is the beginning of a backlash, with a growing number willing to defy the thought police and speak out. They do however have an uphill struggle against the same forces and the same mentality that afflicts Sweden.

All I can say is that this determination by socialists to denigrate the indigenous population in every Western nation, is so similar and widespread, that it is difficult to believe it is a coincidence. I believe that there is an international effort by socialists/marxists whatever they might be called, to undermine Western nations. That this isn't more widely recognised, and therefore resisted, is quite astonishing.

I believe that the prevalent attitude of most whites who bemoan the loss of their ethnic homeland and social capital to multiculti "vibrancy" is misguided. As long as Qaizar Mahmood does not see himself as "Swedish," there is still some hope for Sweden, even though she does not deserve it. On the other hand, when a Jasenko Selimovic [name is Muslim Bosnian (or from nearby)]is described as "Liberal Swedish politician" -- that's the beginning of the end.Takuan Seiyo

"when a Jasenko Selimovic [name is Muslim Bosnian (or from nearby)]is described as "Liberal Swedish politician" -- that's the beginning of the end.Takuan Seiyo"

I'd like to add to that. A sharia-mohammed from Somalia is representing Moderaterna, the moderates, in the parliament, Riksdagen.

His name is Abdirizak Waberi, and he thinks a man can have up to four wives, which may be beaten if not behaving properly, and as men have stronger sexual urges women need to follow islamic dress codes not to create "disorder" in society, thus for the sake of good order.

LN has tried to post this comment at least once previous. I have redacted it to post it for him, because it did not meet our guidelines for comments in its original form.

————

LN said…

"Anonymous said...Excellent to see new journalists being added to the ranks of GoV. A great first essay - I look forward to more content from this person."-----------------------

Hello there, Baron! This is the third time I am trying to to get this comment to stick - will you please not let it 'slip away' again.

As a wothy representative of the Swedish rabbel, I have some true insight into the New Sweden tragedy and that is why I reject you choise of letting this wellspoken columnist – [discourteous remarks about PMP redacted]

[…]

Keep the quality line - you are momentous - not least shown now by your having got "antiviral" Norton on your neck. Don't assist Global Stupidity!

Let somebody with knowledge and true insight, like Fjordman or maybe Seiyo, write about tragic New Sweden; do not fall for yellow mica, it IS NOT gold.

Let me point at only two things. - Fact: New Sweden has got no Crown Prince Daniel. We have got a Crown Princesse who has married and got a child named Estelle with her (former?) trainer Mr Daniel Nobdy, a gym-owner. The title CP is highly indigenous irony.- Fact: Jasenko Selimovic is no politician. He is a marxist and a former Yugoslav actor and maybe a director, who wisely got himself asylum in stupid New Sweden. He had the right PC gift of the gab, so he was called in and made an Undersecretary of State by the magnum idiot himself Eric Ullenhag (liberal), Minister of Integration.

Unfortunately, demographics is reality. If the socialists manage to continue their suicidal immigration policies for another generation or two, the huge numbers of foreigners will make all arguments about Swedishness irrelevant.

We stand at a unique position in history. I'm not aware that entire nations have willingly wiped themselves out before.

If we do survive, I can promise that those who led us to this will not be forgiven.

Escaping WW II and receiving thousands of refugees surely have a lot to do with it. The leading lobbyist for multiculturalism och massimmigration in the 60s and 70s was a holocaust-survivor named David Schwatz. He had a tremendous influence on the leading socialdemocrat politicians.

As Lawrence Auster put it somewhere: immigration tends to lead to more immigration./Benge/

So, Anon of 2:57, you have not heard of the Incas or the Aztecs then? Also Persia [Iran] used to be 95% Zoroastrian not too long ago, then they 'let in' a few of the 'Usual Suspects' [Moslems] and guess what happened over 80 or 90 years. TheZoroastrians now number something less than 5%.

Children - under 18 - seeking refuge in Sweden- We're talking about children (with often fullgrown, beards)

A caricature-like scene from after-debate talk, where SD, Swedish Democrats, representative thinks these men should be age controlled to verify if they really are children. Method: By checking teeth, for instance

About our Prince:You are right that the title Crown is on the side of the Princess. My bad. There is nothing you can do about her choice of marrying a trainer, however ;).

About Selimovic:Not true.You seem to have a problem with the background of people - In this case too.

It does not matter whether Selimovic is a marxist. Or that he got an asylum or, for the matter, that he is into the Opera and the arts. The fact is that he is an active, political member of Folkpartiet. He is one of the most active debaters on behalf of his party, and he does serve as an Undersecretary of State (with the influence that position entails) – Right under Ullenhag (wich has too much influence himself). Whether you or I like it or not – The guy is a politician.

If you still are not convinced, I kindly refer you to Wikipedia:

http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasenko_Selimovi%C4%87

stating:Jasenko Selimovic “is a... politician of Folkpartiet”.

I am part of ´global stupidity´? :)I would actually prefer to be part of a global stupidiy, rather than the ´local´ stupidity we have to face in Sweden.

I hope that you will keep reading this blog and comment on things you can share insight on. If you know something I do not, about our ´New Sweden´, please do share your thoughts.